


Chasing Starlight

by Blanska



Series: Black Heart - Pirates of Thedas [3]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Gen, Pirates, Thedas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 20:30:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4680323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blanska/pseuds/Blanska
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Black Heart is chasing a wonderful prize, but the hunt doesn't go exactly as he planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chasing Starlight

There are many tales about the dreaded Black Heart or the ‘Terror of Rialto Bay’ as people used to call him in former times. Some of those tales are well known, but told in untrue ways. People like to add fanciful twists to their stories to make them more intriguing, and it often happens that in the end the tale has nothing to do with reality. But make no mistake, real life can be at least as intriguing as the products of our imagination, especially if that imagination is heavily involved in the turn of events. Since I’m certain that you have already heard the most famous tales about Captain Black Heart, I’m going to tell you a story that few people know as it truly happened.

It wasn’t yet a whole year after Black Heart had become the captain of the 'Two Sirens’. His sisters, Lale and Özge were living in Port Campana and slowly becoming unshakable members of its little society. Lale was working as… let’s say a businesswoman: managing shipments, trading cargo, and bargaining with captains. Özge wasn’t as well known amongst the inhabitants of the island as her sister, at least most people didn’t pay her much attention, because she didn’t have that much influence - apart from the fact that she was one of Black Heart’s sisters. Oh, but this was where her real power resided. She was a quiet girl, but she listened. And over the months she had made agreements with certain people to help her listen. Now she knew about everything that had happened or was about to happen on the island, and with the help of Lale, she had learned how to use all that valuable information wisely. 

This tale begins with her, the younger sister. One time, she had heard a very intriguing rumor about an Rivaini cargo ship, by the name of Starlight. She shared all the information she had gathered with Lale and they both agreed that this knowledge  could be invaluable. So they tried to contain the rumor to keep their advantage, but sadly they didn’t have much success; the next day everyone on the island was talking about the wondrous Starlight. When Black Heart returned from sea, he was surprised to see that the whole island went into some kind of frenzy over a mysterious cargo ship. He went to his sisters immediately, and asked them to tell him everything they knew about this rumor.

_“It was some sailors who have brought this rumor to the island.”_ Özge told his brother. _“According to their tale, Starlight is a Rivaini ship, or rather a boat that was built for carrying heavy cargo without sacrificing her speed. The boat will transport a huge amount of gold and some other treasures to a place somewhere between Seere and Kont-arr. As far as we can tell, there’s no settlement or port at her destination, but it’s possible that Starlight is carrying all that gold to a secret warehouse. Although there’s one thing that all the rumors agree on: for some reason there will be no escort ships.”_

The rumor was curious indeed. If Starlight’s cargo was as valuable as people claimed, it would have been unwise to send her on her way without an escort. Although it was possible that there was some other kind of protection that the rumor had failed to mention, for example a crew full of mages. Black Heart’s ship and crew was one of the strongest - if not _the_ strongest - on the island, but Black Heart himself was without question the most intimidating captain of Port Campana, at least at the time. The rumor of Starlight promised wealth and power, and Black Heart knew that he needed to take this opportunity. Once he announced that he was going after Starlight, all the other captains abandoned this quest, for they didn’t wish to make an enemy of the dreaded Black Heart.

The Two Sirens set sail on a journey around Rivain to find and capture Starlight along with all her treasures. They were not far from their destination, when one of the crew members spotted a ship on the horizon. It wasn’t Starlight, it was a light battleship with colors that Black Heart was quite familiar with. It was Captain Dorian’s Vainglory. Black Heart had served for three years aboard that ship, he knew she had a pretty decent captain - for a pirate, mind you - but it was curious to meet his old crew only a day away from their prey. When the two ships were close enough for sending messages, Captain Dorian requested a meeting with his old crew member. Black Heart didn’t think that Dorian would attack him in such a dishonest way, but if pirate life had taught him anything, it was to prepare for every imaginable outcome, even the most unlikely ones. So he took his quartermaster, Gwyn Ruuoz to the other ship and also Nadine, who was perhaps the strongest of his three mages. 

They entered the captain’s cabin, and it was exactly as Black Heart expected. There was no one there except for the captain himself and his first mate, Silverfinger, both of them very powerful mages. Dorian offered a seat to the other captain, then began to explain why he had invited him. _“It’s been quite a long time since I had seen you - or Port Campana for that matter - but I have heard that you’ve made a name for yourself over the past months. I hear all sorts of things from many different places, and since the news that brought me here are from no other place than dear old Port Campana, I assume that we are here for the same thing. Miraculous little Starlight. Here’s my deal for you. We join our forces, we take the ship together, and then share the treasure. Since the rumors promise wealth beyond measure, we shall be more rich than ever even so that one half of the plunder is yours and the other half is mine.”_

Black Heart didn’t need much time to consider this deal, he already decided everything, once he had heard the word 'sharing’. _“Before I give my answer”_ he said to the other captain. _“I want to point out the unfairness of your offer. You say that we each get half of the treasure, and you thought I’d forget that my crew is larger than yours, so we deserve a larger share. Even if this was a fair deal, I’d have to refuse. I promised my crew all the treasures of Starlight, nothing less and that’s exactly what I’m giving them. You also forgot about the fact, that we’re more than capable of capturing our prey and we have no need for your help.”_

The first mate, Silverfinger didn’t like this answer at all, Dorian on the other hand was as calm as ever. _“What a shame.”_ he replied. _“I would have liked working together with you once again. But have it your way. You have until dawn to change your decision. After that, you better not get in my way.”_

Black Heart returned to his ship, and gathered the quartermaster, the navigator, the weapons master, and all three of his mages. They had one night to come up with a sufficient plan to defeat the Vainglory or at least to get to Starlight before she does. This was no small task. The Vainglory wasn’t a large ship, but it was a lot quicker than the Two Sirens, and getting too close to her was very dangerous, because of a crew full of mages. The Two Sirens was bigger, harder to destroy, and packed with all sorts of weapons. After a while Black Heart’s team agreed that their best chance is to slow down the Vainglory a bit, try to keep up with her, or if that would fail, ambush her after Captain Dorian boarded Starlight. 

When the first rays of the Sun hit the top of the mast, the unrelenting race for Starlight began. The two ships were riding the waves at full speed, and it didn’t take long for the Vainglory to get ahead of the Two Sirens. Now it was the task of the weapons master, Camryn Percarus to get the other captain’s attention before the distance between them grew too large. With a small catapult, she hurled a couple of grenades over to the Vainglory, these caused sudden explosions and maybe a hint of panic amongst the enemy. After a few more of these explosions, it seemed that Captain Dorian decided to face his pursuer, and teach them a lesson in close combat. Black Heart ordered his  mages to protect the ship from enemy fire, and his marksmen to target powerful combat mages. As the two ships passed by each other, a brief and rather chaotic battle flared up between them. Captain Dorian’s swift ship turned around quickly to approach the Two Sirens from the other side and launch a bigger attack, but the other ship slowly turned away from her. Now from the back of the ship the weapons master hurled a barrel towards the enemy, and lit the thing in the air with a fiery arrow, thus raining fire on the Vainglory. Orange flames appeared on the other ship, but it wasn’t a difficult task for the many mages of the crew to put out the fires.

Black Heart expected Dorian to chase after them, but the Vainglory turned away and continued her way towards their goal. The weapons master shot more grenades at them, but the enemy mages blew them up while they were still in the air. It seemed like Captain Dorian preferred to outrun them instead of fighting, maybe he was more sure of the outcome that way. It didn’t take them too long to get out of range, and from that point Black Heart’s only chance was to attack Dorian while he was still occupied with Starlight. The navigator of the Two Sirens was an excellent one, but even his expertise weren’t enough to catch up with the smaller ship. They have outraced them.

There was already a pretty big distance between the two ships, but they were still able to see clearly what was going on on the other deck. And right after the Vainglory had passed by a larger cliff, she began to turn back towards the Two Sirens. At the first moment Black Heart didn’t know what was happening. Why would Dorian change his mind and attack him now? Then the realization hit him. He wasn’t attacking. He was fleeing. And as they passed by the cliff as well, the same view greeted them. One qunari dreadnought. Two qunari dreadnoughts. Three qunari dreadnoughts. The navigator turned the wheel as fast as he was able, and barked commands to trim the sails. They could already hear the qunari roaring their battle cries, hundreds of oars hit the water in complete union, like it was a single sailor moving them all. The wind didn’t favor the pirate ships either, their only chance to outrun the dreadnoughts was turning to windward and praying for a miracle. The qunari were drawing nearer at a terrifying speed. Instead of a miracle, what helped the pirates was a keen eye and many years of experience at sea. The Vainglory turned the wheel and made for a smaller island not far from the shore, the Two Sirens followed her without hesitation. As they sailed closer, Black Heart could finally see the reason why the other captain wanted to reach the island so badly: a labyrinth of tall rocks were guarding the shores. They could easily damage their ships in there if they were to take the wrong turn, but there was no way that a qunari dreadnought could follow them through the narrow paths. It was a race with time and the Two Sirens wasn’t far from losing it, but in the end she disappeared between the rocks just like the Vainglory. 

The pirates’ advantage in there was momentary. They were safe from their hunters for a while, but it wasn’t easy to see what was happening around their protective cage. Both captains sent a man up the mast, and both men reported the same: the dreadnoughts split up. One was guarding the way they came in, the other two went to cover both sides of the labyrinth. The qunari couldn’t reach them at the moment, but the pirates had to leave eventually, and who knows, maybe their hunters would find a way to get to them if they lingered for too long. There weren’t many options. They could sneak past one of the dreadnoughts and try to outrun them once again - which didn’t quite work the last time they tried - or they could attempt to fight one. Both were very risky, but the captains agreed that they had more chance at battling one of the ships without attracting the others. 

The pirate captains chose the side where the wind could give them the most speed - fighting the dreadnought in the middle was out of the question - and prepared for the ambush. They knew that the dreadnought would be able to spot them before they emerged from the rocks, and also that their best and most likely only chance at defeating it, was boarding the enemy ship. They tried to leave the protection of the rocks as close to the dreadnought as possible. The moment they spotted it, Silverfinger, the Vainglory’s first mate conjured a terrible thunderstorm above the qunari ship. Once the Two Sirens got close enough, Percarus, the weapons master showered the enemy deck with smoke bombs. The two attacks combined seemed to be enough to stall the qunari and keep them from turning the pirate ships into floating bonfires with their special explosives. The two ships boarded the dreadnought from both sides, and forced the qunari to abandon their posts and take up their weapons. They hit them hard. The pirates were fighting for their lives for they knew that certain death was waiting for them if they fail or give time for the other dreadnoughts to join the fight. Actually, the saying “Qunari waste nothing” can be heard quite often, but that only gave more motivation to the pirates to fight even harder. The crew of the Vainglory showed exactly how dangerous mages can be, and Black Heart was glad that it wasn’t his crew who had to face their fury. 

The two pirate crews made a quick work. They killed every single qunari and lost only a few sailors. They took the injured crew members and everything they had found on the dreadnought back to their ships and agreed to share the plunder once they were safe. Black Heart was half expecting to glimpse one of the other dreadnoughts appearing from behind the rocks at any moment, but for some reason the moment never came. Perhaps the distance between the closest dreadnought and the battle was great enough and the qunari wasn’t even aware of the attack. Or they simply assumed that the pirate ships were already at the bottom of the ocean, and the victor was coming back to the meeting-point. We may never know for the pirates did not linger, they cached the wind and sailed far away from the island.

Once the pirates were certain that they were safe, the two captains met again to examine what they had taken from the dreadnought and agree on how to divide it. The Two Siren’s weapons master, Miss Percarus was overjoyed after inspecting the plunder from a little bit closer. The pirates had not only managed to secure a large amount of gaatlok - one of the reasons why qunari ships were so feared - but the dreadnought was carrying lots of other weapons as well, prototypes of cannons and even more curious instruments. Both captains knew that these weapons would make them a target, but they would never let go such prize. They divided the weapons justly this time, everyone seemed to be content with their share and the glory of defeating a qunari dreadnought. Even Silverfinger had some appreciative words for Captain Black Heart, who swore to identify the man behind the rumor of Starlight, which - everyone by that time had agreed - was nothing more than a trap. 

After Black Heart had arrived to Port Campana, he and his sisters immediately started looking for the man who had dared to deceive them. By the time they uncovered his plot, and found out his name, the cheat, Pellissier had managed to slip by Black Heart’s people and escape the island. Özge tried to keep an eye on Pellissier, but her reach wasn’t long enough and soon the man vanished from their sight. Black Heart could have gone after him, but he chose to invest all his energy and money in the instruments he had acquired. These weapons were after all what later helped him become the Terror of Rialto Bay.

As for the cheat, since he couldn’t catch him, Black Heart had sent a letter about the man’s identity to Captain Dorian. A few months later, when Pellissier were sure that Black Heart wouldn’t come after him, he had the misfortune of running into Silverfinger. I don’t believe I have to elaborate. I’ll just say that Pellissier didn’t have to run anymore. This was a long tale, I know. But I wanted to take the time to tell it truthfully. If you wish to hear more about the adventures of Captain Black Heart, return to me another time. I might have more tales for you. But now, go home and take this tale with you.


End file.
